Guidance Notes for Castle staff on reserving & booking rooms - Weddings in Wales at Craig y Nos Castle

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Guidance Notes for Castle staff on reserving & booking rooms

Wedding Planning > Our Bedrooms

Weddings in South Wales - Craig y Nos Castle Room Bookings Guide for Staff

This page is for staff information on Policy & Procedures for Wedding Package Room Booking & Reserving. It is not for Brides and Grooms to bother with!

If you are a booked Wedding Couple and have got this far, Congratulations as you have done very well to study the site so thoroughly, to end up here!  There's no need to read this page (it really is not that interesting!). Instead go to the Plan Your Wedding page for far more useful links on planning your wedding at the castle.

Or see more wedding planning links below.
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Room Reserving for the
Wedding Packages
Guidance Notes for Castle Staff
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The ONLY time you can block out MOST rooms (25) is if you have an SWP/ FWP. This will still leave one or two en-suites spare (currently there are 26 en-suites).

Only reserve rooms up to the minimum required for their wedding package in the room monitor. Do not reserve more than the Guaranteed B&B usage specified in the wedding contract. Extra rooms can only be blocked out if they're booked and guaranteed by the Bride as extra rooms.

Put 'for wedding only' against each room reserved for the wedding. Use AB rooms as 'wedding only' rooms.


ROOM RESERVING BY THE CASTLE AND BY THE WEDDING COUPLE

1. Only reserve rooms above the minimum IF the Wedding Account on FAB has these rooms billed to the account as extra guaranteed rooms. Extra rooms can be guaranteed in blocks of 5 at £750 per block of five rooms. What is on the room monitor as reserved to the wedding must match what is guaranteed on the tools account of the wedding account.

2. ‘Room reserving’ is NOT allowed in B&G name, ONLY IN A GUEST NAME, unless Bride herself and close family is occupying the room.

3. Only block out rooms with no names (i.e. ‘for wedding only’) in the Room Monitor, up to the room guarantee level required under their wedding contract.

4. Brides CANNOT block out rooms other than for their minimum contracted number, UNLESS they block book extra rooms and add these to their wedding contract accommodation guarantee.

5. When a bride reserves rooms for named guests, it must be ON THE UNDERSTANDING that those rooms are contractually down to the B&G to pay for, if they are not occupied by the named guests.

We should advise “all reservations should be booked by their guests at least a month beforehand so we are aware the Guest has contacted us and booked with card details." We should tell the Couple of any reserved rooms still unconfirmed a month prior to the wedding. These may have to be paid for by the Couple under their accommodation guarantee. This can be advised at the Event Finalise meeting to ensure all the guaranteed rooms are used.

6. With all 'for wedding only' room reservations:

(a) The total reserved rooms must not exceed the room usage guarantee on the Bride's account on FAB. If FAB says 20 rooms guaranteed, only reserve 20 rooms in room monitor. Send Couple an updated SRUM showing the reserves.

(b) The reserved rooms are booked out to the wedding guest occupying the room once they phone in to book the room in their own name.

(c) You create a SRUM showing the reserves, mirroring the Room Monitor. You send the SRUM to the B&G, advising them that should any guests not occupy the rooms they've guaranteed, the Bride and Groom will have any unoccupied rooms charged to their account as per the accommodation guarantee.

The final confirmation of booked rooms and remaining 'room reserves' has to be completed a month before the wedding, either by Wedding Planners phoning the B&G or the B&G being called in to an Event Finalise, where this is finalised correctly.

You can only reserve extra rooms above the wedding package minimum if the Couple guarantees the use of the extra rooms under their wedding contract. The new amount due must be added to the FAB account. Send out a new room booking confirmation along with SRUM showing the 'room reserves' as above.

From time to time you need to send an updated SRUM to the B&G so they are kept abreast of bookings. This latter should be done on a regular basis by the Wedding Department, and certainly immediately on request by the B&G for an update. Before sending out updated SRUM's carefully cross reference with room monitor to update the SRUM with guest bookings.


TAKE CARE NOT TO OVER-RESERVE ON ROOM MONITOR WHEN 'OTHER ROOMS' ARE BOOKED DIRECT

On Room Monitor, you may have some guests booking rooms which have not been reserved for the B&G. Guests may choose any available room that is not reserved. If the wedding only has 10 or 20 rooms guaranteed, for each 'other room' booked by wedding guests direct, you need to remove a matching 'for wedding only' room. This you need to do each time a wedding guest chooses a room not marked 'for wedding only'.  

Ideally put all wedding guests in the 'for wedding only' rooms, over-writing the ‘for wedding only’ entry on Room Monitor. Use the other rooms once you've filled up the 'for wedding only' rooms.

There is a risk of over-reserving as the B&G or the guest can choose any room they like, if it is available. If rooms you have not blocked out for the wedding are booked by wedding guests, up to the minimum under the relevant Wedding Package's room use quota, you may be left with rooms you blocked out, unused and not required but showing as 'unavailable'. This admin error has often resulted in us telling guests 'there are no rooms' left, when there are.

For every room booked out to a wedding guest that is not marked 'for wedding only', remember to remove one of the 'for wedding only' entries from Room Monitor. If you forget to do this, you will end up with more rooms blocked out than the package minimum, with some rooms kept empty that are not required. This can become an expensive mistake as many rooms could be blocked out incorrectly and then not used.


RECONCILING ROOM USE AGAINST ACCOMMODATION GUARANTEE AND ASSESSING ANY TOP-UP:

When the B & G book a wedding we create a V4 accommodation debit for the value of the rooms that they guarantee to meet. This is known as the 'accommodation guarantee'.

48 hours before the wedding, once all the guests' confirmed bookings are received and no one can cancel under the 48 hour notice terms, the balance of monies paid or due to be paid by booked guests is then removed from the wedding account.

We then work out if the contractual B&B numbers are met and charge the Couple any shortfall as 'top-up'.


TO CONCLUDE

1.            Only reserve rooms above the minimum for the package if the Couple have increased their room use guarantee.

2.            ‘Room reserving’ is NOT allowed in B&G name, ONLY IN A GUEST NAME or if no guest name is given to you by the Couple, it is marked as 'for wedding only'. You only put rooms in Bride and Groom's name if the Bride herself and close family is occupying the room and has specifically requested the room(s) to be booked on their account.  This is to prevent us telling guests 'all the rooms are booked', thinking the B&G are occupying them.

3.            Only block out rooms ‘for wedding only’ in the Room Monitor, up to the contractual amount of rooms required under their wedding contract.

4.            Brides CANNOT block out rooms other than for their minimum contracted number, UNLESS they increase their accommodation guarantee.

5.            When a bride reserves rooms, it must be ON THE UNDERSTANDING that those rooms are contractually down to the B&G to pay for, if they are not occupied by the named guests.


ROOM RESERVES & BOOKINGS ON SRUM

Create a SRUM showing the reserves, mirroring what you enter on the Room Monitor.

Send the SRUM to the B&G, advising them that should any named guests not occupy the rooms, the Bride and Groom will have the reserved but unoccupied rooms charged to their account in accordance with their wedding package accommodation usage guarantee. Send the SRUM out with the following statement:

"I enclose / attach your updated SRUM showing your room reserves. Kindy note the rooms you have reserved are chargeable to your account if they are not subsequently booked by your named wedding guests. Please be aware that by guaranteeing any extra rooms above the minimum B&B usage required under your wedding package, you are also accepting liability to pay for these extra rooms should your guest(s) not call us to book the rooms in their own name. Please carefully monitor your room reserves against actual bookings. Remove from reserve any rooms that are not required, and replace with other guests' names who are able to stay.”

Enter a debit on the FAB tools account for extra rooms guaranteed above the wedding packages initial contractual minimum and confirm this to the Couple.


MINIMUM CONTRACTUAL B&B USAGE PER PACKAGE

1. Reserve AB12 and AB11 to wedding every time, so you are always able to accommodate disabled wedding guests.

2. Do not use theatre rooms for weddings other than SWP/FWP – theatre rooms should be kept for non-wedding guests, to give them some peace away from the buzz of a wedding.

3. Only block out rooms ‘for wedding only’, up to the limit of the minimum room use requirement under the B&G's wedding package

4. Never refuse general B&B bookings for any wedding night unless there is genuinely nothing left.

Use AB rooms only for wedding, theatre for non-wedding or wedding overflow. However Bride can over-ride our standard selection of ‘for wedding only’ rooms. If Bride or a Wedding Guest specifically wants any theatre or other rooms, simply swap the reserves around so you still end up with ONLY the minimum number of 'wedding only' reserves applicable.

Extra rooms can be reserved only if they are guaranteed under the Bride and Groom’s Wedding account. If B&G opt to go above the minimum number they must contract for the extra rooms on their wedding package.

The minimum rooms to be ‘blocked out’ by Reception and marked in RM ‘for wedding only’ (until named guests book in or 'room reserves' are placed) are:


LMWP 50: Must have 20 guests at £75 each therefore 10 doubles get marked in RM as ‘for wedding only’ until named guests book in or are reserved.

10 rooms; Use initially AB12, AB11, for disabled guests, then 8 others being all doubles; AB13,14,15,16,33,34,35,36. And of course AB30 FOC for Bride. Leave remainder available for B&B guests or wedding overflow.


LMWP 80: Must have 40 guests at £75 each therefore 20 doubles (actually 19 due to AB15) get marked in RM as ‘for wedding only’ until named guests book in or are reserved.

20 rooms: Use initially AB12, AB11, for disabled guests, then 17 Atrium rooms for double occupancy. Leave all theatre rooms available for B&B guests or wedding overflow.


MWP: Must have 25 guests at £75 each therefore 13 doubles get marked in RM as ‘for wedding only’ until named guests book in or are reserved.

Use Atrium Ground floor rooms first, leave theatre rooms empty for non-wedding guests.


SWP/ FWP: Full reserve of 25 en-suites. Keep remaining rooms back for non wedding guests.

Nurses Block remains available as overflow for either wedding guests or non-wedding guests.

For all weddings: Nurses Block cannot be allocated to B&G unless booked by the B&G specifically and added to their account and a standard booking confirmation email sent.


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Fridays and Saturdays
'6-months rule'
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The '6-month rule' now only applies to Fridays and Saturdays. En-suite Rooms for the night before the wedding where this falls on Sundays to Thursday may be reserved or booked as far ahead as anyone wants. Only Fridays and Saturdays have to be reserved or booked no more than 6 months ahead.

If a wedding guest wants to book two nights (because they want to stay the night before the wedding), and the night before the wedding falls on a Friday and / or a Saturday, then you can place them in the Nurses Block so they are allocated a room. Subject to availability, you can move them into their en-suite room, for the night before the wedding, once within 6 months of the wedding date. This should be done as an automatic upgrade as the tariff is the same, plus it saves on room changeovers/ cleaning. However availability is highly unlikely as most Fridays and certainly all Saturdays have weddings booked. All guests booked into Nurses Block need to be advised it is unlikely they can be upgraded before night of wedding. Priority always goes to wedding guests of that days' wedding.

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